A/N: Wow, I haven't updated in a really long time! Sorry about that guys. I just got a brace for my arm and it is slowing me down even more. The events that happen in this chapter are really very strange. If you are thinking that this could never, ever happen, well I will put up a perfectly logical sequence to the result. Just don't turn all skeptical of my writing skills. Haha. Hope you like it. Read on!

Previous: Sesshomaru was also looking at Kagome with interest. "As fate my have it, Kagome, you now are a phoenix." And with a start, Sesshomaru realized that her scent was completely irresistible. She was a demon now! He shook his head, in his effort to push Kagome away because of his new developed feelings, he had indeed drawn her closer by making her one of his own.

"A ph...phoenix?" she stuttered.

Sesshomaru walked slowly around the miko, inspecting her ever so carefully. Ok, she only had a tail for all he could see, but there was no way that manipulating a soul could only result in rapid tail growth. There had to be something more, inside Kagome that could not be seen by the naked eye.

There girl's voice broke into his thoughts. "What do you mean a phoenix? Isn't Rin-chan the tiger spirit?" asked Kagome.

Tiger spirit? Where did she get that? I never told her that Rin was a tiger...He narrowed his eyes, deep in thought and at last asked, "How do you know Rin is a tiger? If you mean her zodiac sign, yes. However, Rin does not possess a manipulated soul anymore. Unless she told you something." His eyes brooded into Kagome, making her hot and uncomfortable.

"I...I don't know," Kagome answered. "A tiger...I really am not sure Sesshomaru." Wait a moment, Sesshomaru is right! Rin-chan never told me anything about the manipulation of the soul; I doubt that she even knows about it…...So why did I say tiger?

"Well," Sesshomaru prodded on.

"I don't know why I said that Rin-chan was a tiger. I must not be thinking straight." She shook her head, and sat down again. So she made a mistake, it didn't necessarily mean that it was some deadly sign. To her surprise, Sesshomaru did not push the subject any further. He simply nodded and walked closer to Kagome. The first rays of dawn was beginning to show, dappling the room with a faint light that danced back and forth of the ground.

"Come then," Sesshomaru said, in his usual cold and unfeeling voice.

Kagome did not really where to "come" but she stood up none the less. She was surprised to feel every detail around her through her tail. Kagome had suspected that the nerve-endings would not work as well at first, but it was as if they had been there all her life. Well it was fine with her; she really didn't want to practice how to make her tail go back and forth. Slowly, as if in a daze about what had just happened, she walked towards Sesshomaru.

Sensing that the miko was very light-headed at the moment, Sesshomaru placed his arm around her waist to support her. Kagome did not object, but neither did she respond. This was fine with the youkai lord; it didn't make any difference to him what the miko did.

I wonder where I'm going... Kagome drowsily followed the youkai's guidance towards the door. She took a last glance around the room where she had made her transformation. The dainty little table sat quietly at the window's edge. The rug on the ground lay undisturbed and bathed in the morning light. She passed through the frame of the door and it was shut. Sunlight streamed in and dappled the closed door giving it a lighter view.

"So, what's a opel?" asked Inuyasha for the millionth time.

Sango let out an agitated sigh, "a hotel Inuyasha, a hotel. It is somewhere that we are supposed to find lodging all right? It doesn't seem like we can camp out in Kagome's world too easily."

"Well I don't trust this hotel place," the hanyou said imitating Sango's exaggerated tone on the hotel part.

"Inuyasha my dear friend, what is there not to trust," Miroku pointed out. "If Kagome says that it is safe, then it should be."

"Well we are supposed to be looking for the HT light! Not staying in a hotel!" Inuyasha snapped back.

"Well when I asked the man about the UV light, he said we had to buy it. But he was not familiar with the money I showed him. This means we will have to obtain money another way," Sango said.

"And how do you propose we do that Sango," the hanyou asked.

"Um, the man said something about a job. He gave me a strange look when I asked him how to get money, I guess it is a common thing in Kagome's world," Sango said.

"Well then, I could sell my sutras here," Miroku said.

"I guess that would work," Sango agreed. "By the way, where are we going?" She looked around to see an unfamiliar maze of city streets with bustling cars all around. A little girl was staring at the three of them with undisguised interest.

"Ah! Inuyasha, your ears!" Miroku yelled.

"Jeeze, you don't need to yell, I'm right here," the hanyou said, but was shoved into a street corner by his companions. "Man, you guys are worse than Kagome!"

"Inuyasha, we need something to cover your ears, everyone will see them and we don't have Kagome here to help us," Sango said, reflecting on her lost friend.

"I have a solution," the monk said. He quickly took at a strip of cloth from inside his kimono and tied it around Inuyasha's ears. It looked absolutely ridiculous; you could say that the ears were more noticeable now than before. "Well it was worth a try," the houshi said sheepishly.

Inuyasha quickly ripped the cloth off and threw it on the ground. "We don't have time for this! We should just grab the UC light and go!"

"But stealing in this world is different than ours. You go to something that Kagome called, um, ga...or jaol...or um, I don't know for sure. But it is different that where we are from and we can't hurt the people here," Sango chastised.

"Fine then. But if we can just grab the thing without staying here too long, then we will," Inuyasha said.

"That's agreeable," Sango said. "Now then, to do something about your ears..."

"Kagome always uses a hat for that," Miroku advised.

"Right. A hat, I can find one, stay here," the demon slayer said. She walked out of the alley way and observed the people passing by. Many of them were school kids coming back home after a long day. They all wore uniforms so they didn't have any hats. Kagome had once shown Sango a hat that she had won at a drawing, she remembered it quite clearly. More people began to cross paths with her, and many had hats this time. She went up to a young girl and took out a small container that had a flower delicately carved on it. The side was chipped off so Sango could no longer use it to carry her poison, but it was still pretty.

"Will you trade your hat for this container?" Sango asked.

The girl giggled with her friends at such a strange remark, but nodded all the same. She happily handed over the hat that said "School Girl" on it and took the container. Sango ran off as the girl she had just traded with fingered the small container.

"Ok Inuyasha, here," Sango said.

"What! I'm not wearing that! It says "School Girl" on it!" the hanyou argued.

"Well it is the only one that I could get so you have to put it on," Sango argued back.

"Well nothing's doing!" The hanyou sniffed.

Sango let out an exasperated sigh and slammed the hat on her companion's head. "We need to help Kagome, and the longer we wait, the more trouble she will be in, just put it on and go!"

"Fine," the hanyou grumbled. They friends walked out from behind the alley into the wave of people. This was going to be fun...not.

Once Kagome had made her transformation, Sesshomaru had brought her back into her bed since she looked like she would topple over at any moment. Now, the miko was just beginning to stir.

"Oh I feel so sick," she grumbled as she sat upright.

Sesshomaru was sitting at the edge of the bed, looking at her. He didn't move or make a sound, simply stared. She's up. She didn't seem to change that much, only her scent, so alluring. But of course, the youkai lord did not give in to such petty thoughts; he would not fall in love with a half transformed girl that had a freakishly manipulated soul.

"Did that really just happen, or was I dreaming?" asked the miko. She quickly spotted her tail and answered her own question. "Ok, yea, this is reality."

"Are you alright?" asked the youkai lord.

Kagome was taken aback by the question. When was the last time Sesshomaru asked her if she was alright? When was the last time he cared? Nonetheless, she repeated her statement, "I feel sick."

He nodded and pulled the girl in closer to him so she was slightly leaning on his torso.

Kagome leaned a little further, drinking in his warm scent. Wait a moment, scent. She finally realized her new heightened senses. Sure they weren't as strong at Inuyasha's or Sesshomaru's, but they were sensitive. She was aware of many scents floating around the room; the musky scent of a vole's nest in the corner, pine tang from the cherry desk, and the rusty smell from the carpet. All the scents soon floated together in a mixed jumble, making her feel even sicker. It would be a while before she could correctly tell all the scents apart.

Sesshomaru noticed the girl's expression and said, "Tell me what you feel; I need to know what the transformation has done to you."

Kagome opened her mouth to speak, but a new wave of dizziness came over her. It forced out her throat. Kagome leaned over and retched on the ground. Wave over wave came over her; she couldn't breath and began to panic. At last, she seemed to have emptied her contents and sat back to take in a deep breath. She quickly realized that she had just leaned up against Sesshomaru and this may make it seem like a move of affection. She jumped forward, but was surprised when the youkai lord shook his head.

"Lean back, I don't want you throwing up again, make sure you feel better before you try to do something again," Sesshomaru ordered.

Surprisingly, although it would have been painfully simple, Sesshomaru did not add in a sharp jibe to the comment. He kept his voice to a gentle monotone that helped soothe the girl's nerves. She happily obliged to rest for a while. Simply throwing up had made her exhausted and she soon lost tack of all senses as she went off into a gentle doze.

She's so beautiful. Normally, Sesshomaru really would not have admitted this, but something about the miko had changed. Her scent was different, not drastically different, but it was. Something about it was so much...sweeter, no that wasn't the word; definitely not sweeter. There was no way to describe it at the moment, but it was more alluring than any human's scent could ever be.

Time slowly passed by as Kagome slept. Sunhigh came and went; she still dozed lightly, only to awaken when it was dark out.

The miko yawned contentedly as she awoke. The sun was just peeking out behind the hills, bathing the Earth in a serene color that made all the trees look slightly red. "Did I sleep that long?" asked Kagome.

Sesshomaru nodded. "Do you feel better now?" he asked her.

Kagome nodded, fast, cute little nods.

He got up and helped prop Kagome up. She really didn't need the help, the girl moved away once she was up. "Let's go outside," the youkai lord ordered.

"What for?" asked Kagome.

Sesshomaru didn't answer, but started towards the door. The miko ran after him, her long tail swaying behind her.

They walked out a door that Kagome had used many times when in the kitchen looking around. It was a back way, leading to a small pond. As they went outside, they were greeted by the cicadas as they chirped their alarm calls to each other. Two mallards flew off together and left crystal splashes of water behind them. Sesshomaru walked along the pond, his tail rippling in the wind. He followed the shore-line, all the way to the other side of the pond.

"Where are we?" asked Kagome. She looked around at the small clearing. There were tall trees around it, giving it a closed in sort of feeling. The pond bordered the right side, so the castle was still completely visible.

"At a sparring range," Sesshomaru replied.

Kagome took a step back. "A sparring ring? Surely, you wouldn't want to spar me...?" she asked, with a slight hint of panic in her voice. Two song birds were disturbed by her voice and chirped angrily before huddling back together.

"Don't worry," the youkai lord said, "I do not intend to hurt you, and you should notice that with the transformation, you will have heightened senses and abilities. If I am not mistaken, the tail should also disappear in a matter of days."

Kagome nodded slowly; indeed she had noticed her heightened senses. She smelled the spicy tang of the squirrel, and the musky odor of a water vole. The leaves also gave off a fresh smell, and the water was sweet and clear. However, the part about abilities surprised the miko. So did this mean that she could move as fast as Sesshomaru and jump as high as Inuyasha? She doubted it, if her senses were only slightly heightened, then her abilities would be about the same. And as for the part of her tail disappearing, it really didn't matter to her all that much.

"Are you ready?" he asked. "We're going to start out with a simple block sequence," he said. He kept his sword at his side, he didn't even change stances.

Kagome nodded timidly, she knew the various stances of a fighter, having learned them from her demon slayer friend. But sparring Sesshomaru, it was something different. Her eyes continuously strayed to Sesshomaru's tensaiga, she couldn't help it.

The youkai lord noticed this and said, "Don't flatter yourself; you are not good enough to spar my sword yet."

Kagome felt fiercely irritated by this comment, in what place was he to say such things about her. She nodded, quick little nods, she was ready to take him on.

"Alright, let us begin," he said.

"Stupid dogs! Shut up damn it!" the hanyou snapped angrily at the puppies inside the cages.

"Inuyasha, please stop drawing attention to us," Miroku begged. A crowd of people had already come to stare at the strange sight.

"What do you think you are doing to these dogs?" asked an angry man.

The hanyou twitched his ears irritably; tampering with the store keeper wasn't the best way to go about unnoticed.

"I am very sorry," said the demon-slayer, "we did not mean to cause any harm.

"Harm or not, you are going to make my dogs very traumatic," the man said. A couple of people raised their voices in alliance.

"Time to get out of here..." the monk muttered.

"Well you see, my friend here has a sickness that makes him, very, um short tempered. He...er...has frequent outbursts of..."

The demon slayer was cut off by a very angry hanyou, "I do not have a disease Sango! The damn dogs were just too loud, along with everything else in this city," he said.

"Inuyasha," hissed the houshi. He grabbed his friend firmly by the arm and dragged him away from the puppies.

"We'll be leaving," Sango said apologetically.

"Just keep your friend away from my puppies," the gruff shop keeper said.

But by the time he said this, Sango was already at the corner of the road, pushing Inuyasha along.

Kagome let out slow, ragged breaths. Sparring Sesshomaru was difficult; although he was right about on thing. Her actions, reactions, and abilities had definitely heightened. The youkai lord seemed to be moving much slower now, maybe because her human eyesight had not been so good. She had even gotten in a few hits, but suspected that Sesshomaru had let her, simply to test out the strength of her blows. With a large intake of breath, noted that you should never do while light headed as it makes you even more dizzy, she moved in on Sesshomaru once again.

The youkai noted with satisfaction that Kagome was learning quickly, she had learned to judge his pattern of movements and how to react, not that she was fast enough to do it though. He easily sidestepped her first attack; the girl wheeled around in mid-run and almost immediately jumped up for a kick; but Sesshomaru was too fast for her. He caught her by the heel and stopped her right then and there. Now Sesshomaru had the upper hand advantage. He grabbed her left arm and spun Kagome around, slamming her into the ground.

The miko sprawled out across the ground, sliding only a few inches away. I'm going to be really sore tomorrow, she thought silently to herself. She slowly started to get up and hissed out an angry breath when she moved her leg. It was not broken or sprained, for the pain would have been much more excruciating, but she had landed at a strange angle. The miko lay back down, unwilling to get back up. A powerful hand grasped her shoulder. Sesshomaru gently picked her up onto her feet again where to wobbled a little bit.

"Do you want to continue?" he asked.

Despite Kagome's pain, which was now dulling out to a faint throb, she nodded her head. To say 'no' was a sign of weakness, something that she did not want to posses.

The youkai lord smiled, the girl's spirit was encouraging. "Then come at me again," he said.

Kagome took a deep breath, and propelled herself forward, making a complicated sequence of movement. After sparring with Sesshomaru all afternoon, she had come to realize that she would never get in a true blow, and he knew this too. Instead, the sparring was really a test of maneuvers; the complicity of each movement. The miko spun around once and lashed out in a fluid strike; a move that she had witnessed watching her little brother Sota play endless hours of video games. Remembering her family brought back a wave of sadness, she would never see them again. But she brought her attention back to the present and attacked Sesshomaru again.

The youkai managed to dodge each and every attack with ease. He noticed that the girl had caught on to the fact that he was not looking for her to try and give a knock-out round.

Kagome used complicated movements, but each attack was easy to execute as long was she knew where she was going. The miko did not try to pull off anything like leg sweeps or jumps in the air; those would take time to learn. She shot forward again, spinning around only halfway before striking while completing the turn. This would have hit too if Sesshomaru hadn't decided at the last minute to test her defense without so much as a notice.

He caught her in a vulnerable position, the blind spot on her left outer arm with which she was striking. Immediately, he rammed into her, and the girl turned all the way around. He gave a solid punch in the stomach, but not too hard, causing her to double over. In an instant, he had her rammed up against a tree, directly underneath him.

Kagome looked up at Sesshomaru; he was no longer applying pressure at her, but held her with just enough strength so she could not get away from him. She let out a gentle sigh, all of a sudden feeling safe looking into those beautiful demon eyes. Sesshomaru noticed Kagome's look of longing as well. He moved close yet, whatever happened next, was not for Kagome to tell. Sesshomaru, with his godly strength, would decide whatever happened to the gentle miko beneath him.

A/N: Ok, I know that most of you waited an eternity to read this, and I have more bad news. In two weeks from now, I will be going to Hong Kong...again. For a month I will stay there, and then come back to go to the beach for...another two weeks. And besides that, I don't normally write fanfictions during the summer. So if you do not hear from me for three months, maybe four, five, or even six (god forbid it take that long) I have not stopped writing. I never ever ever will stop, so just keep on checking in. Maybe I will write some of the story on the laptop in Hong Kong if I have time. Once again, thank you for reading, and I hope to update soon!

Reviewer Responses

Kakkshisgurl: You are so flattering! Thank you so much, I will try and hurry as much as possible.

Amori kuawbara: I believe you are a new reader if I am not mistaken. Thank you bunches for leaving a review, it means a lot to me!

Inuyasha1818: Thank you for waiting. I hope you spoke for everyone there.

Alex O 014: Also a new reader? Thank you for reviewing, my arm took a lot longer to heal than the doctor said. Hehe….

And thank you to my other reviewers, Rae-elfin-warrior, Erin (ano), meluvsokka, and AnimeLover45.

Friends Thoughts:

(At BPA Nationals in the Swan and Dolphin Hotel of Orlando Florida)

(John and Annie are at a grueling game of Spit or Speed, whichever you prefer)

Annie: C'mon John, put down your card! I'm ready and you're not!

John: Did I miss something here? Why is Annie in such sudden intensity?

(later same game)

Annie: C'mon John, put down your card. I'm ready and you're not!

John: Ok Annie, so who turned up your bitch meter?